New Firefox version (27) breaks Sandboxie

I was getting an error message from SBIE saying something like "Com error", with some letters in there too.

I heard others discuss this too in a threat about FF v27, which I for some reason cannot find now. 99% of the time I install the apps and I never face the problems other people do, so I don't let it scare me away. But this seems to be a pretty universal thing. It's happened to every box I've seen SBIE on, from their newest release to v3.76. So if this isn't happening to you I'd guess you're the exception and not the norm.

So I think I'll just stay on FF v26 in the meantime. And hopefully hear some good news that this error is corrected in short order. I guess this is a good time to test whether the good customer support will still be there after Tzuk's sold the company. He'd probably have this entire situation resolved by now.

Please post in this thread when this problem is resolved so that other people having it as well know when to upgrade FF to v27.

I am not having issues in my XP or W7. Firefox 27 runs fine sandboxed under SBIE 4.08 in both computers. If I was having issues and couldn't figure out why I was having the problem, as a temporary workaround, I would do what you wrote above.

I'm starting to think maybe this is purely an XP thing. And yeah, what happened to me is different from the other stuff I see reported. But the main gist is the same... FF crashing, so I see no coincidence here.

Well... if true that's one way to get users off of XP.

For me Firefox will open. As it does a popup message from Sandboxie appears, which says "Com error", or something. Firefox still opens regardless, but then crashes/closes almost immediately. And I get the prompt to empty the sandbox.

One of those changes in Firefox 27 clearly doesn't play nicely with Sandboxie. They will likely not care, and not consider it "their problem". And on the other end, with Tzuk no longer running the show, I'm not very convinced they'll fix it in short order either (if at all).

If someone on an OS other than XP has had problems with SBIE ever since applying Firefox update 27... please speak up. So that we know it's not "just" an XP thing.

No, no, its not an XP thing. As of this moment, I use 14 sandboxes in my XP and all of them work properly. No errors or headaches. I experience a nothing issue in both of my computers related to V4 and Flash but I found a workaround that doing it don't mean anything to me. Other than that, the rest is beautiful. I can run any program I want sandboxed in my XP and they all run fine.

If you are getting Sandboxie messages, what are they?

Try V 4.08 over the top, you really have nothing to lose. If it doesn't take care of your problem, you can always go back to 3.76 if you want (over the top again). You could also try V4.08 in Shadow mode if you are still using SD.

I don't use Shadow Defender anymore, but I had it running in a VM so thankfully all I had to do was reboot my box and I was back to v26 again.

I'm not convinced that updating to the new version of SBIE will fix the problem at all. All the people I saw report this bug said they were on the current version. I'm the exception running 3.76 still, and just wanted to let everyone know this version too is susceptible to the problem.

I did mention what the error message said, roughly... "COM error", then were some numbers, I assume an error #. I don't feel like going through the trouble now to reproduce it again, but what I provided should be enough to go on.

Also, do you use Firefox v27? SBIE works just fine for me with everything else on XP too, but not this current version of Firefox. And so far I only see people with XP + Firefox 27 bringing this bug up. If you are on XP and running FF 27, sandboxed, with no problems, they you're an exception to the norm. The only one I've yet talked to in fact that could make the claim.

I'm just gonna sit on v26 until I hear from people that are experiencing this problem that it is fixed. Then, at that point I'll upgrade to that current version of SBIE if I must. Ideally Firefox would fix the problem on their end instead and let me keep SBIE 3.76. It worked just fine until this latest FF update, so, it's on them if you ask me. But I'm sure they won't do anything it and instead the SBIE team will have to make concessions to make them play nicely together... possibly concessions that weaken the overall protection.

No idea if the issues some people are having and mine are related as I didn't get any SBIE errors – but I had heaps of problems trying to update FF26 to 27. The crap I went through takes up several pages – so too much to list here. My update of FF26 to 27 went as follows:

Windows 7 – Sandboxie V3.76
I tried updating FF26 to 27 same as I did in Win8 – but on the restart of FF after updating internally – nothing appeared! No FF and nothing displayed in Task Manager! When I tried opening FF I got the message - 'Firefox is already running – but is not responding – to open new window, first close existing Firefox - or restart the system' On restart of Windows I was able to open FF (still as V26) sandboxed or unsandboxed.

Also, do you use Firefox v27? SBIE works just fine for me with everything else on XP too, but not this current version of Firefox. And so far I only see people with XP + Firefox 27 bringing this bug up. If you are on XP and running FF 27, sandboxed, with no problems, they you're an exception to the norm. The only one I've yet talked to in fact that could make the claim.

Click to expand...

Firefox 27 and SBIE 4.08. No issue. Look at the link that I posted earlier, by the time I posted, 4 users on XP, including myself, reported not having an issue running Firefox 27 sandboxed.

wmiprvse.exe and one additional instance of SbieSvc.exe are running each time FF27 is opened.

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This is also strange behavior in and of itself, and hints that this FF update was screwy even to people not having FF crash on them. And also points to it being an XP issue. Not everyone that is on XP has had it crash on them... but everyone that has had the crash issues is on XP it seems. All 3 boxes I've seen personally, all running XP, all have this problem. That makes it pretty hard for me to write off as being some isolated incident.

This bug is clearly on Firefox's end, but I doubt they'll address it. I'll probably just have to stay with FF 26 until I upgrade to Win7.

Yes, Mozilla wont change nothing. Sandboxie has to figure out why some people are having problems, I think. But still, your problem is different than the one in the Firefox 27 tread at the SBIE forum. Perhaps you ought to post about it at the forum. That way, if others have experienced something similar, they ll come forward and post in your problem report.

I am convinced that one of the reasons that I pretty much can run anything that I want sandboxed in my XP or W7 is because I was there from the first version 4 beta and reported the problems that I experienced in both of my systems. Most of my issues got fixed in time after I reported them.

the only changes I have seen are that now wmiprvse.exe and one additional instance of SbieSvc.exe are running each time FF27 is opened.

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This ended up being extremely helpful... thanks. Along with realizing that my problem indeed was not exactly like everyone elses. In the end I ended up having to modify some of my D+ rules for SBIE to accommodate the changes mentioned in the quote above. That's all it was.